Mr Gum and the Power Crystals
"Mr Gum and the Power Crystals" is the fourth book of the Mr Gum series. It opens with Polly down by the Lamonic River playing, and she hears Jake the Dog in the Old Meadow. She goes over, and Jake and her find a bag with two strangely shaped stones - a white one and a pink one. Polly is strangely spooked by the stones and walks home faster than normal. She locks the stones in her jewellery box and goes to bed. In bed she has a dream that the stones are telling her to take them to the windmill. She protests that there are no windmills in Lamonic Bibber, but she feels her body coming out of her power. She walks down to the river, and sees Mr Gum's face on the moon. Then he disappears. Then she sees a windmill, and the stones (crystals) tell her to go over the bridge. She protests loudly, but she cannot control her own feet and walks over the bridge. She stares at the doorway to the windmill, and sees Mr Gum's face again in a window. Then she wakes up. She screams, but then realises that it was a dream. But then she finds the crystals in her hand, her bare feet filthy with grass and mud, and a souvenir T-shirt that says "I WENT TO THE WINDMILL IN MY SLEEP AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT". She decides to try and figure out what is going on. Later, she decides to ask Old Granny, since she is so old. She packs the crystals in her bag and sets off for Old Granny's house. Then she finds herself at the windmill again, and the crystals tell her she should go in, but she steels herself and walks back towards town. The crystals try to make her turn back, but Polly doesn't give in. She finally gets to Old Granny's house, but then realises it is the windmill. Then comes seven chapters with the same thing happening - she turns away from the windmill and walks away, but finds herself back at the windmill. Finally, Mr Gum steps out from a bush. Mr Gum tells her that he was looking for the crystals, and asks her to join forces with him. It's hard, because the crystals are telling her to as well, but she manages to refuse. She runs away and there is a big chase. Then she sees someone else emerge from a bush. She asks for help, but to her horror it is Billy William the Third. They pin her against an oak tree and get closer and closer - but then a bony hand reaches out from a hidden doorway in the trunk and pulls Polly in. The stranger leads Polly down a tunnel, and Polly discovers it is Old Granny from the smell of sherry. Old Granny tells Polly how Old Granny's mother told her about the tunnels when she was a young girl. The tunnel emerges in Old Granny's fridge. They sit down and Polly shows Old Granny the crystals. Old Granny tells her a story of Nicholas de Twinklecakes who wanted to build a windmill in 1529. He built it with 6p and his wife and son were happy. But then, on Midsummer's Eve a fierce storm came to Lamonic Bibber. Nicholas's wife and son were killed by lightning. The windmill was also broken. Nicholas decided to destroy Lamonic Bibber with power crystals because he was angry. He uttered the curse, "When next the windmill's sails do turn, Lamonic Bibber will burn and burn!" Nicholas did experiments for thirty years, and in 1559 (which was on the bag Polly found) it was Midsummer's Eve again. He ripped up some floorboards to make a Power Crystal Control Panel. He was about to put them in but saw a mob down below. He ran away, burying the power crystals deep in the ground. He was found three days later murdered by hair thieves. Old Granny tells Polly that it is Midsummer's Eve again and if the power crystals are brought to the windmill terrible things could happen. Mr Gum and Billy William climb out of the fridge and capture Polly (along with the crystals). Meanwhile, in Spain, Friday O'Leary and Mrs Lovely are sunbathing when the Spirit of the Rainbow appears and tells them to go back home because Polly is in trouble. Señor Darren gives them his finest donkey, Barcelona Jim. Back to Lamonic Bibber, where Mr Gum, Billy William and Polly arrive at the windmill. A face appears in the clouds and claims to be Nicholas de Twinklecakes, thanks Mr Gum, and the three go into the windmill. They go up the creaky stairs, and Polly finds Alan Taylor crouched on her shoulder. He nibbles through the intestine ropes that bind Polly, and then leaps at Mr Gum's face. Mr Gum drops the crystals, and Polly and Billy William each catch one. Billy William dashes to the control panel and puts his crystal (the pink one) in. Nicholas de Twinklecakes in the clouds tries to persuade Polly to put the other one in, but when she doesn't he tries to kill her with lightning. A jet of rain knocks the crystal out of Polly's hand, and it is going to land in the other slot when Alan Taylor punches it away. He falls into the slot himself and is turned to crumbs by the machine. Polly's heart is off balance because of Alan Taylor's death, so the Bad Side in her heart takes control. She is about to put the white crystal in the slot when the Forces of Good in her heart fight back. She is distracted by Jake the Dog and Barcelona Jim barking and braying outside. The noises make her feel happy and she is once more good. Suddenly Mr Gum snatches the crystal and puts it in the slot. The sails begin to turn and Polly climbs out of the windmill onto the window. Friday O'Leary outside tosses a rope to her and she leaps onto the sail with it. She fastens the rope and Friday O'Leary, Jake the Dog, Barcelona Jim and Mrs Lovely pull on it. They are, however, not strong enough and tie the rope to the castle next to the windmill. The sails stop and the Spirit of the Rainbow is there. He removes the crystals from the slots and puts them back in the wrong way round, to make the windmill make bread instead of evil. Nicholas de Twinklecakes appears again with his wife and son, made of clouds, and thanks Polly. Then cut to Alan Taylor's funeral, burying a drawing of him Polly had done. They make speeches and cry and then go back to the windmill, where they find Alan Taylor again. The windmill had made him from the crumbs in the slots. The story then ends on a happy note.